THERE was a triple celebration at Harewood House in Tavistock during the last week, when three of its residents marked their 100th birthday.

Winifred Foster, Gladys Scorgie and Betty Earring were given a joint party on Sunday with friends and relatives joining in with staff and fellow residents.

Win was 100 on April 12 — a very special day for her family as her son Alan was also born on that date and by coincidence, another two sons each had a daughter — Lyn and Kate — both born on the same day!

There were further celebrations on Saturday as all four were together, with the rest of the family, at the Bedford Hotel on the Saturday for a celebratory lunch. More than 60 of her family members from all over the country —including some flying in from America and Spain — were there in her honour.

Born in Plymouth, Win Galloway left school and trained in Pophams department store as a seamstress, going on to become a dressmaker.

Win married Stanley Herbert Foster — known as Bert — whose father was the piermaster at Phoenix Wharf on the Barbican.

Win married Bert when she was 22. The couple had four children — John, Janet, Alan and Colin — eleven grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Bert sadly died in the early 1970s.

During the Plymouth Blitz in the second world war, her home was blown up by German bombs and she, along with her first son John, narrowly escaped with their lives.

Win recalled: 'I can remember when the bombs dropped and took out the front of the house. I grabbed my boy, put him into the pushchair outside the door and took him to my mother's house. We were bombed out but the first thing my mother said was that she had two slates missing!'

Elizabeth 'Betty' Earring was born on April 17 and lived at Exeter Street (now Old Exeter Road), Tavistock. Youngest of eleven children, Betty attended the school on Dolvin Road and after leaving, stayed home to help care for her mother. Betty worked at the Pannier Market working on a sweet stall, and then at Tavistock College as a cleaner.

She met Alan when he was on leave from the Army, and they married on Betty's birthday in 1943. They had their first child Beryl in 1947: A second child, Robert followed in 1950.

Not many people can say they've saved somebody's life, but in the 1950s brave Betty saved a neighbour from a house fire by dragging him out of the burning building.

Husband Alan was posted abroad for almost three years, and on returning the family moved to Uplands, Tavistock. Alan died in 1982 after a long illness, with Betty nursing him throughout. Betty remained independent until she moved into Harewood House in late 2011.

She enjoys listening to classical music and having a walk in the garden.

Yorkshire woman Gladys Scorgie (née Ward) was born in Pontefract on April 16, 1913.

It was while working in the office of a launderette she met her future husband, Hector Scorgie, when Gladys was late for work one morning and he gave her a lift on his motorbike.

Their passion for motorbiking and camping soon saw them joined by her brother, sister-in-law and friends who, as a gang, rode their bikes all over the place.

Gladys' family joke is that is how the first chapter of the 'Hell's Angels' were started!

Gladys and Hector married in 1938 and their daughter Jennifer (known as Ann) was born three years later.

For many years Gladys looked after her parents and when Hector became ill, she nursed him for ten years.

Gladys moved to Devon in 1993, when she came to live with her daughter.

She is now a proud great-grandmother as Ann's son Andrew and his wife Katherine have had a little girl, Ella.

Amanda Moreton, unit manager at Harewood House, told the Times: 'The staff here are proud and privileged to look after such lovely ladies.

'They are a pleasure to care for and are always positive.

'They each have their own personalities and individual character and do not let their frailities restrict them.

'Win, Betty and Gladys are true inspirations to us all.'